The REDI Shopping Centre development project in Helsinki is well underway as a financing deal has been struck with a syndicate of banks. JLL facilitated the deal, the largest ever single-asset transaction in Finland. SRV Group’s $530 million project is set to take shape in the growing Kalasatama district of the Finnish capital, with half of the necessary funds coming from a group of financial institutions based in Scandinavia.

The joint venture in charge of development at the REDI Shopping Centre consists of SRV, Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co., LocalTapiola and OP-Pohjola Group, as well as a fund managed by OP-Pohjola Group. SRV owns 40 percent of the shares in the investment. Roughly $250 million of the necessary funds needed for the construction of the shopping center and the parking facility will come from a project credit agreement signed with the aforementioned syndicate of banks.

Pohjola Bank Plc, Nordea Bank Finland Plc and Helaba Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen will be acting as the mandated lead arrangers, while Danske Bank Plc and Swedbank AB will also be part of the syndicate as lenders. SRV will also provide an unsecured project credit of 15 million EUR, or around $16.5 million, which will be used for construction.

SRV is also set to develop eight white towers that would add around 1,200 residential units, as well as a hotel and office space over the following decade, with completion of the shopping center slated for 2018. When finalized, the heart of Kalasatama will be home to around 2,000 residents and will be a new important shopping hub for the city. The REDI Shopping Centre was designed by Helin & Co. Architects and will total nearly 625,000 square feet of retail space.

According to Christian Hohenthal, Head of Capital Markets JLL Finland, the developers and banks are working on a backdrop of growth for the Finnish property investment market. The REDI development is timed perfectly, in a city that is one of the fastest growing in Europe, after a record 2014 in terms of its real estate market.